Collision
by stupideffinrope
Summary: After the tragedy that night in San Francisco, Amy feels slightly shunted aside as she tries to be there for her friends. But she has no idea about the calling card Destiny is sending her way with the truth about Amy's own family. And that news takes a form in Maira Stratis. Soon, Amy may be the one in need of help from her friends.
1. Prologue

**Man, I had to get this out of my system even though I should really be working on my other stories. Well I guess I have another one to add to the list. Excuse me while I fling myself into the sun.**

**Not one hundred percent sure where I'm going with this but it is definitely going to be Amy-centric and possibly OC-centric. **

x-x-x

It was a strange thought really.

They had no reason to be there.

They didn't know her. Perhaps they had seen each other just once - twice at most. But they didn't know her, not like the others did.

In the sea of black umbrellas and heavy rain, there was one face that let the water hit him regardless. He may have thought the droplets disguised his falling tears and perhaps some were too deep in their own grief to notice. He was holding an umbrella to his side, underneath which stood another blonde girl whose sobs were kept as quiet as the first drops of the rain that morning. Of course the Uniter was present, right beside Alek and surrounded by the countless Mai that had answered the call to watch the casket being lowered.

It really was strange that they were there. It was strange that she felt the grief around them overwhelm her too. Paul had said he wanted to support Chloe. Amy agreed. But now that they were here, she felt more than just sadness. She knew that she had also come here to value the life that was lost, even if the two humans stood away from the gathering. It felt wrong to intrude. So the two watched Valentina's funeral side by side in silence, forgetting their own awkwardness in the recent days.

x-x-x

The rain didn't stop even after the funeral and the silence in Meredith King's car was almost unbearable. If it wasn't for the feeling of her best friend's freezing hand in hers, Amy would have thought she was completely alone. It was a slack hold but Amy knew it was also Chloe's connection to the current world. Yes, a lot had happened that night four weeks ago and equally as much since. It was terrible that they were only getting to Valentina now, as if the weather had been lying in wait for it all along. Judging by Chloe's shaking form and blue lips when she had come back to the car, the Uniter had left the safety of the umbrella not long after the burial.

Amy and Paul had found Chloe with Brian in her arms. They had understood her first mumblings of him being dead but with every second, she became more and more incoherent between her sobs. It wasn't until Amy pulled Chloe to her feet and Paul attempted to move Brian from Chloe's lap, which was a difficult enough job as Chloe was reluctant to let go of him, but he had frozen on the spot and turned slightly pale. There was a pulse. A faint pulse but a pulse none the less in hours after that had been a blur and the last things that Amy had really remembered was Chloe collapsing next to her loved one and Amy dialling for help. The rest was a rush of sirens and inhuman wails. They were sounds that would haunt Amy's dreams for a long time.

While doctors had worked on Brian in the nearest hospital, a police officer questioned them all on what happened. Chloe was the only one able to provide any details and was lead away to answer some questions after being assured that Amy nor Paul would leave until they knew what was going to happen to Brian. A silent prayer passed between them all; the small spark of hope in Chloe's eyes shouldn't be allowed to die. Brian shouldn't be allowed to die.

When Alek had rushed into the same hospital, it was hard to tell who was more confused to see the other. For just a split second, they thought the young and handsome Mai had rushed there to see Chloe but there was blood on him that night too and it wasn't all his own as they noticed the bloody heap in his arms. Jasmine was in his arms and looked within the reach of death. And her cousin looked like he was spiritually dying too. Just the mere fact that he brought Jasmine to a human hospital rather than get Mai healing proved that he had nowhere else to go. They didn't get a chance to talk as Jasmine was swept away by doctors and Alek followed after them.

Chloe never mentioned what she had told the police when they questioned her, especially since she had her own blood staining her clothes. She just silently sat with them while Amy rubbed comforting circles around her upper back. The only time she did react had been when she spotted Alek finally emerging and ran after him. They couldn't be heard but it was obvious that both of them were devastated and angry. After what had seemed like half an hour of them talking in hushed voices, Alek had been convinced to come and sit with them and they were filled in with quick details. Zane had betrayed everyone and tried to kill Jasmine and Valentina. Alek never gave details about how he fought Zane off apart from the fact that he somehow gained the upper hand and Zane had fled. But Alek was left and he had to make a choice about who to save. Amy had never heard more guilt in someone's voice since Chloe accidentally killed Xavier. Any other details were forgotten about when they saw the doctor heading their way.

Jasmine wasn't out of complete danger but she was going to pull through. Brian was in some sort of coma and they were not sure when he was going to wake up.

Meredith had rushed into the hospital only a short time later after Chloe had called her, accompanied by Brian's father above all other people. It was indeed a small world. No-one could give him a straight answer about what happened and left the man to his own grief. Meredith took pity on her daughter and allowed her to stay in the hospital that night but Amy was less fortunate and was picked up by her worried and near hysterical fathers. In the days that followed the 'humans', as most of the Mai referred to Paul and Amy, were given very little information about how the Mai were smoothing over the whole situation outside of what they heard from Chloe in the few times they saw her over the next week. Their only other source was Alek, whom Paul had taken in to stay with him seeing as the young Mai didn't really have anywhere to go with his only guardian now dead. But even Alek wasn't around much and the only time they saw either of them was when they visited Jasmine after she woke up. Amy noticed that she and Paul visited the hospital a lot.

It was about two weeks into the whole fiasco that Amy really stopped and noticed it. Paul seemed to want to visit the hospital every day and he'd spend hours there too, helping Jasmine cope with the loss of her mother in any way he could. He certainly seemed to help Jasmine by being around and it made him happy to help somehow. He certainly couldn't play his usual role as sidekick to Chloe. In some ways, it shouldn't have been a surprise on that Saturday night out of the hospital when Paul brought up those horrible words 'just friends'. Yes, their relationship had been tested severely where both were frustrated and trying to help but not really getting anywhere but through that frustration, Paul had clicked with Jasmine and Amy suddenly felt very alone. She wanted to yell at Paul and cry and kick and scream. But where was the maturity in that in these times when it was called for everyone to be an adult: Jasmine had been announced the new leader of the San Francisco Mai days before and was coming to grips with it, after thorough investigation Chloe and the Mai came to the shocking revelation that Brian's father was somehow connected to the order so he vanished as soon as that was uncovered (Of course, how they found that out was forbidden to be told to anyone, not even Chloe's closest friends) and no-one knew if Brian was aware of the Mai situation as he was still showing no signs of coming back from his coma, Meredith had finally been told about what her daughter was, Alek refused to see Jasmine out of guilt for what he felt was letting Valentina die and now Amy had lost the one guy she believed would battle with her through all this stuff that felt too big for them.

The day before that was the day that all the arrangements for Valentina's funeral were finally completed. At first Amy avoided Paul's calls but he finally caught her when she paid an early visit to Jasmine. It was more awkward than she wished it to be but they had agreed to go to the funeral to support Chloe and Jasmine who had begged to be released for that one afternoon to attend her mother's funeral. The sky outside had gotten visibly darker and Amy could practically sense the rain coming. She believed that in some ways it would ease the passing. And suddenly, her news had felt irrelevant. Zane was now officially wanted by the police according to one of her fathers who was a lawyer. Unsurprisingly, the Mai already knew as it was one of the only things she heard come from Alek's mouth herself when she bumped into him in the elevator on her way out (He had spent many days lurking outside Jasmine's ward somewhere but he still didn't have the courage to go and see her.)

So now, as she sat in Meredith's car and saw her familiar front door coming into view, Amy came to realise how truly out of the loop she really was. Giving Chloe's hand one final squeeze to assure her that she was still here for her friend, she saw the blonde girl pull a sincere smile for what felt like the first time in all those weeks. Yes, they were going to come back from this, the darkest times had to be behind them. The rain would clear up into sunny skies again soon. The light would shine on San Francisco once more. And Amy Martins, human as far as she knew so far, would be there to either be ignored or lend an ear to anyone who wanted it. She had no idea what her own personal destiny had in store for her.


	2. Basically

**Once again I apologise for my terrible introduction chapters but thank you to anyone who reads past it and I hope you enjoy the next one!**

x-x-x

The sound of gulls cried out from the small rocky pool not far from the docks. To a tourist, it would just be noise but if a local fisherman were there he would immediately know that something had spooked the creatures. Something that wasn't normally there had arrived.

As for her, she knew this was exactly where she was supposed to be. Now all she had to do was find the girl before anything _else_ did.

x-x-x

It was on a sunny San Francisco day that Amy's life changed forever. Two weeks after Valentina's funeral, the weather had finally cleared up but everyone's hearts were still heavy. Of course moving on from a loss wasn't easy but the most frustrating part of it all was that Amy felt more left out than she had at the funeral, where several Mai had made it clear how they felt about humans being there. Obviously no-one had dared to say a thing because they were the Uniter's friends, as well as allies of the new San Francisco Pride leader. But after the funeral, her hopes of playing a supporting role were severely dashed.

She stared across the cafe to the store where Chloe was working, waiting for her to go on break. It had become the only time she actually managed to spend time with her friend anymore. Ever since Meredith had found out Chloe's secret and the funeral, they had begun some kind of mother-daughter bonding experiences so that Meredith could better understand what her daughter really was. That coupled with her more dire Mai responsibilities and visiting Brian at the hospital didn't leave much time for a social life. She had said that school and work were the only things that, strangely enough, kept her sane.

Amy felt she understood the feeling somewhat as she looked at her phone. There was still no reply from Paul. Their breakup awkwardness had dissolved since the funeral but she was still hurt, especially now that he was spending a lot of time helping Jasmine with getting organised. Apparently she had found him to be really useful in eagerness to learn more about the Mai. Naturally, that meant he spoke less often to Amy and was more updated than her. She pouted to herself as she suddenly felt slightly neglected by her friends.

"Not a good time to be all childish Amy" She muttered to herself.

"And to be talking to yourself" A familiar voice suddenly spoke up next to her. The very British tone made her realise who it was right away but it still startled her.

"Alek!" She turned to look up at the blond with more enthusiasm than she had meant to. Said Mai raised his eyebrows slightly at her too but settled on the fact that it was acceptable that she was shocked to see him. He and Jasmine were almost next to impossible to see and Amy only heard updates on Alek from Paul because the Mai was still living with Paul while he looked for a home. Amy forced a cough "W-What are you doing here? Skulking around after Chloe isn't going to do a lot of good, y'know" She piped in knowingly.

Alek gave her one if his cocky stares even if it didn't have the usual glint behind them "I wasn't skulking, I was just checking on Chloe" Amy understood his hesitation. He seemed to blame a lot on himself; there had been that stuff where he didn't have the courage to speak to Jasmine until after the funeral and from what Amy heard from Paul, the two were still awkward with each other because neither one blamed the other what happened to Valentina but each blamed themselves. Then there was the situation with Chloe, not only was he angry with himself for getting jealous about her picking Brian and abandoning her when she needed his help, but he was also angry at Chloe for not listening to him and continuing to see the human and his pride prevented them from smoothing things out.

"Well, she's as fine as a girl can be considering her whole world was tipped upside down and the guy she loves is in a coma" Amy drew her eyes away from Alek and onto Chloe as she busied herself. Amy began to twirl around the straw of her drink. She decided to make the most of the time that Alek was there to get some information.

"So-"

"I just-"

Both human and Mai looked at each other in surprise for a few seconds until Amy shook her head and motioned for him to continue so she could get to her questions quicker without him getting distracted by whatever was on his mind.

"I just wanted to thank you" He caught Amy slightly out of the blue "You and Paul that is. For coming to Valentina's funeral. I already thanked Paul but Jasmine said I should pass it on to you too if I got the chance. I know that there were some Mai weren't too welcoming but we're all…shaken up by it. But it meant a lot to Jasmine…and me that you two were there regardless. So thank you" He wasn't even subtle about how difficult it was for him to be like this to Chloe's two irritating human friends but at the same time it was one of the most sincere tones he used with her. The only other time had been when he promised Amy he would look after Chloe when she first found out she was a Mai.

Amy chuckled "Very sensitive there" But she carried on her smile "And I'm sure Paul's told you that we were happy to do something to help" Alek only nodded and continued to watch Chloe "You know, you should really just talk to her about it already. Since you're her protector and all, it'd make everything a lot easier. And this awkwardness between you two, yeah pretty obvious. I'm just saying that she already feels really bad and I'm sure she's not the only one" Amy hurriedly added. For a second, she thought Alek might lose his temper.

And for a second he wanted to but as his eyes flickered to the human friend that the Uniter kept, he realised that any anger wasn't directed at her. He was just generally angry. She was just trying to help. So instead he folded his arms and leaned against the table she was sitting at "So what is it that you wanted to ask?"

"Ah" Amy finally stopped spinning her straw, simply relieved that she wasn't on the receiving end of an Alek-Outburst "About how everything's going. It kinda feels like no-one has any time to fill me in anymore, not even Paul. I get that there's not anything I can do but I wanna do _something_, you know? Aside from being Chloe's occasional coffee buddy there's nothing else for me to do. And Paul's involved, and I want to be too" She immediately regretted saying too much as she saw a strange look wash over Alek's face.

"There's not been much progress and that's all you need to know" He pushed himself from the table "Because there truly is _nothing_ you can do. Just be there for Chloe when she needs you. We really can't handle keeping an eye on more than one human and Paul is more than a handful" Harsh perhaps, but Alek simply knew that he had to get it across and there was no point of beating around the bush. Brian, a human, had gotten involved and now he was lying in a hospital bed with no-one certain when he was going to wake up. And as much as he was annoyed by Chloe's friends in the past, he didn't wish that on either of them. Paul was enough to look after. Amy just needed to stick to a normal life.

Well that had been blunt. Amy watched Alek walk away with a mixture of hurt, anger and stunned silence. Suddenly she found she didn't want to see Chloe and quickly sent her friend an apologetic text saying to postpone their meeting for another time. The brunette gathered her items as she forced the burning tears in her eyes back until she ran out of the store.

Chloe, as it turns out, was listening to their conversation the entire time. She grumpily mumbled so that Alek's Mai hearing could pick it up "That was a little much, don't you think?"

"Now you're complaining? You're the one that keeps talking about pushing your friend out of this for her own good or whatever. You were taking too long and I found the perfect moment. Personally, I think this should have happened a long time ago before either of them got too involved with you" Alek said, resisting the urge to get too snappy as he did genuinely take in Amy's words about Chloe's guilt. When Chloe didn't answer, he added "Remember to meet us tonight, Jasmine's been worried about the weird stories popping up in the last few days" as he left too.

x-x-x

It wasn't long after she ran out the store that tears did burn their way down her cheeks. Amy furiously wiped them as she reminded herself that Alek was a jerk but a jerk with a point. In the face of the threat the Mai faced, there wasn't anything she could do.

"Pretty lady like you shouldn't look so sad" A rough voice grumbled. Amy snapped her head to see that she had run down to closest warehouse out of a need to be alone. But it turns out the gruff man with a beard and tattoos wasn't going to let her be alone. Immediately Amy took a step back and he noticed "S'no reason to be scared darlin', I'm not a monster"

"I think that's up to her to decide" Another voice joined them, a much more feminine voice and it sent some kind of spark through Amy. It belonged to a girl that had just walked in the same way Amy had. She was a beautiful girl with olive skin, dark brown hair and a long, straight nose with a small mouth but full lips. Her eyes, however, were a startling blue that stood out against the rest of her features. She was oddly dressed too as she wore a simply white, cotton dress that blew loosely around her body. She turned her eyes to Amy "This guy bothering you?"

"Just looking out for the _special_ young women of this 'ere city" The man scowled at the newcomer. The way he eyed Amy up sent off alarm bells in her head and she found herself inching closer to the female stranger, who didn't seem much older than her. But the closer she got, the thicker the air seemed to get and the more the wind picked up, blowing in sudden clouds. It was beginning to freak Amy out until she finally got closer to the young woman and their arms brushed against each other.

It was like an explosion went off.

The whole warehouse seemed to buzz with an energy as the strong wind rattled all the loose metal. For a brief second, all was silent and then white doves sprang from every hidden spot in the vicinity when Amy had been sure there were none. For a few seconds, they flew around together in a massive white cloud high above the two girls for several seconds and then soaring off into the sky. The girl beside had an astonished smile on her face and chuckled.

"Guess I finally found you" Her sternness from seconds before was channelling into excitement and Amy was more confused than ever. She was about to turn and run when an awful feeling bubbled in the pit of her stomach. With rising horror, she realised the man from earlier was…hissing!

"Skrooll, I should have guessed it was you" The woman shook her head "So you were the cause of all the happenings around this city. I should have known. I guess we're both searching for the same person. Which begs the question, who are you working for? This isn't something that should interest the descendant of the Ophiotaurus"

The man's eyes widened with shock for a brief second "You know what I am? Who are you? No wait, it doesn't matter. I'm going to kill you and I'm going to take the girl. It's obviously been noticed, how much power she's been exerting"

The girl snorted "She hasn't been exerting squat more than she had her whole life. It's just she's coming into her powers and she's been calling out. Although…" She looked Amy's terrified form up and down "…she hasn't been doing it consciously. So now I'm really curious about who sent you, they've gotta have a lot of power to sense her" The girl paused, noticing that the man's skin was slowly turning a strange shade of green and his body hair seemed to be shifting to fur "Oh boy, this is not gonna be good. White doves, you know what that means, right? See if you can guess about me" She pulled the hairband around her hair and tied her hair up into a messy bun.

Amy's eyes widened "What is going on!?" She yelled when she saw what now stood in the place of the man that had creeped her out before. It was a human sized snake but rather than scales, a large part of it was covered in fur and it had two large horns on it's head "What, what? This isn't normal even for me" She half sobbed and got ready to run.

"I wouldn't" The girl sang quickly "He'll cut you off before you get a chance to get away. Stay exactly where you are. This guy's not gonna be much of a problem" She raised her hand and Amy felt compelled to listen to her. Whoever she was, she seemed trustworthy, especially since she appeared to be Amy's way away from that thing. So she watched as the raised hand shook slightly. The air was quickly becoming drier and the girl scowled. In amazement, Amy watched water begin to appear in the girl's palm. It slowly began to extend outward like some sort of cane.

The creature, Skrooll as the girl had called it, had obviously decided to take its chance and launched forward. But he was too slow, the girl had gotten what she wanted and brought her hand slashing down directly in the course of the creature. It was as if she were gripping the water like a solid item. But it flexed itself at the last minute like a rope and struck the creature in the face. It gave a horrible yelp of pain and covered it's eyes. Taking advantage, the girl twirled her fingers and once again, the water she had summoned obeyed her and wound it's way around it's enemies' lower body, knocking it to the ground with a large thud. In a swift movement, the water wrapped itself around the creature's neck and began to choke it.

Something about the girl's beautiful face had changed and she looked fierce, like a warrior rather than the beauty before. It wasn't the most pleasant sight to behold. She gritted her teeth and kneeled next to the creature as it gasped for air.

"M-Maira!?" It choked out.

"Uh-huh. Now listen up, you and I both know I can't kill you because of your 'special position' which makes whoever sent one of you very clever. But I can make things so much worse for you. I can drop to some of the deepest parts of the ocean to things that you can only have nightmares about. So you leave, right now or I do whatever I want to you. You're not as smart as the others of your kind Skrooll, they would have known not to get involved"

"Alright" It tried to pull on the water but only dissolved and reappeared again "I'll leave. But don't think others won't come, for you both" Without another word, the girl waved her hand and water vanished permanently as the creature seemed to shrink from its bulk back down into a human grown man. He stood and, with a final dirty look at the girl, ran off through the entrance. As he ran past Amy, she gave a shriek and dived out of the way and felt the ground collide with her rather roughly.

Footsteps approached and as the sun began to shine once more and the air had gone back to feeling like the moisture was back, Amy saw the girl had a calm look on her face, almost amused actually, as she extended her hand to Amy. With a few seconds of hesitation, Amy took it and allowed herself to be pulled up.

"Sorry for the sloppy rescue, won't happen again" She dusted the dirt from Amy's skirt and then looked at her seriously "But you have not been an easy girl to find, especially for Aphrodite's daughter. You have been well protected indeed"

"Excuse me, what?" Amy shook her head in confusion, scrunching her eyes and forehead together "Who are you, or what are you?"

The girl nodded "Aaaand you're clueless about it too. My name is Maira, as in Mae-ra, Maira Stratis and as you could probably see I'm the daughter of the sea-god Poseidon. I'm the same as you, albeit I came into my abilities way before you, I'm basically a demigod and basically, so are you"


	3. Things Unspoken & Things Forced

**Suddenly felt very inspired to write another chapter so here goes. I hope you guys enjoy it.**

x-x-x

She didn't trust her.

Whereas she trusted her whole heartedly.

Amy didn't know who on earth this stranger was.

Maira had spent weeks searching for Amy.

"So are you going to give me the full story? Who are you?"

Maira sighed and put the coffee cup down. She had hoped to get Amy to calm down by getting her away from the warehouse. There was a mild success but now instead of freaking out, Amy was constantly asking questions and not touching her own coffee. Maira had avoided saying anything sooner but now that it was obvious Amy wasn't going to stop, she looked the other girl straight in the eye "Like I said, you and I are demigoddesses"

"You mean, not human?" The fear was beginning to show in Amy's eyes once again.

"Nah" Maira dismissed "By all standards we're human. We just have power that's taken directly from gods. Amy, right? C'mon don't tell me you don't know about demigods. The often magical offspring of a human and a god. Greek mythology is big on them. Well…" Maira paused "…obviously Greek mythology isn't really a myth, just a really twisted version of history. You're gonna have to bare with me here because it can be difficult to explain to someone who wasn't raised knowing about it"

"No" Amy cut in, closing her eyes in disbelief "I know what demigods are but I don't get how that's possible. I have two human fathers, as in two gay fathers, so unless one of them has been a god without me noticing, there's just no way. Plus, my mother was pretty much just a surrogate who cleared out the second she gave birth"

Maira shook her head "Your biological father is Riley Martins, right? He's a free lance artist who met your other father, Joseph, shortly before your birth. But your mother wasn't a surrogate, she was Aphrodite, the goddess of love. I don't know the full details but from what I can gather, she took a fancy to your father Riley and enchanted him to fall in love with her, even against his sexual preference. It's just like her. Obviously in the process, you were conceived but gods and goddesses aren't allowed to stay with their mortal children. I'm guessing when your father found out the truth, he decided to keep you and made up the story of a surrogate to keep you and his partner safe, especially after the Cradle collapsed" At that Maira's face turned grim.

"The Cradle?"

"I don't remember much about it but for a couple of decades the offspring of gods and mortals were brought together to be raised and shown their abilities by supernatural beings. Some parents gladly sent their kids there, freaked out by the idea of having demigods as children, other parents were reluctant and kept their kids with them but it had happened because Zeus and Hera had finally taken pity on demigods who grew up not knowing who they were or how to control their abilities if they ever emerged. They thought that it was better for them to grow up as a collective. It worked for a couple of decades, I know some pretty powerful demigods who grew up in the Cradle. But one day, something happened and it was attacked somehow. I was only two when it happened so I hadn't spent much time there. You would have only been a baby yourself. Ha, imagine that, we probably met when we were little. Anyway, the demigods were scattered everywhere again. My mother took me back home and raised me telling me everything she knew so that I was prepared for when my powers came properly"

"Wait a minute!" Amy snapped to a sudden realisation "I remember something about when I was a baby. My dads told me that not long after I was born, I had something wrong with me and had to be taken to a facility for treatment. Dad 2, that's Joseph, said they weren't allowed to see me often. But apparently I was sent back home only a few months later because I was better"

Maira nodded again, feeling a shred of pity for the confused girl "That'd be it, Riley Martins probably made up that lie too. But after the Cradle collapsed, everyone was raised differently again and there are still kids out there that don't know who they really are. As we grew up, most of the Cradle children reunited. We still live pretty normal lives but sometimes the gods set us tasks, including finding demigods who are coming into their power and are calling for help. Most of the time, they don't even know they're doing it. The messenger god Hermes came to me a couple of weeks ago and said a demigod was sending out some major signals. He told me Aphrodite suspected it might be one of her children but she didn't even know your name, only your father's so I had to find you all on my own" The beauty rolled her eyes "And I'm telling you it wasn't easy, your father managed to hide pretty well, but I did some digging and found some information on you"

It was one of those moments when there was too much information being crammed into a person's head in one go, kind of like studying too much at the last minute before a test. It made Amy's head ache and she pushed some of her dark hair out of her face. Her brain wanted to scream that it was all some kind of mistake, she was just a human surrounded by supernatural beings called Mai. But not only did it make sense but she felt that it was right too. There had been some kind of familiar connection with Maira even back at the warehouse "Then…what was that thing?" She shuddered.

"Oh, Skrooll, he's a descendant of a creature called Ophiotauras. Half bull, half snake, pretty nasty but not too bright when they're young. I'd have killed anything else but it's forbidden to kill an Ophiotaurus, or to even think about killing one. It's said that their spilled blood holds the secret to overthrowing certain gods. Well, in the books it says it's their entrails but I think that's just to put people off more. Hera makes sure that as soon as someone even tries to kill them, they're punished. I think if I did anymore, I might have faced her royal pain's wrath. Anyway, someone was after your power. It's no surprise, there's always a lot of in fighting between anything that comes from Greek origins. I think the Norse deities are the same too"

"Wait, what?"

"It gets even more complicated; essentially every ancient deity exists in separate worlds. Like the Greeks live in Olympus and the Norse gods have their own world too. So do the Egyptians and Hindu gods. The human world is where they can all enter but not each other's realms. I think it was decided a long time ago to avoid clashes between these powerful deities. It doesn't really matter. The different cultures don't usually clash, they're all too self involved so it doesn't matter" Maira's voice sounded like the headache that Amy was getting. She was afraid to ask anymore questions but her curiosity was also peaked.

"So how about you? You said you're a demigod too"

"Yeah. My mother was a full blooded Greek woman on a small island. My father's Poseidon and my mother told me that she fell in love with him when she was still pretty young. Obviously it didn't work out and I was born. The rest is a really complicated and long story. I'll tell you another time" Her face slowly turned from somewhat grim to being serious "I'm here to make sure that you get a hold of your abilities and to stop you from being an easy target for creatures like Skrooll"

Only that morning Amy had been hoping for some kind of excitement or involvement in helping the Mai, to be able to do something. But now that she had it, she felt like she had been heavily misunderstood.

"Come on, finish that coffee before it gets completely cold. We need to get you home. I think you had enough excitement for now"

x-x-x

Jasmine looked between Chloe and Alek while Paul stood beside her. She knew that having a human at the Mai meeting wasn't the best thing to do but Paul had helped with so much that Jasmine saw why Chloe trusted him and Amy so much. Unfortunately, the latter wasn't there. Jasmine knew why, she had heard from Chloe about Alek's harsh words to her earlier that day. Chloe still seemed to be feeling guilty and Alek was simmering under the surface.

"Okay guys, it's really weird. Over the past few days, several Mai reported strange behaviour in the animals and unexplained disturbances around town. Today we got another one at a warehouse where apparently an enormous flock of white doves just flew out of nowhere. At the same time, the weather had turned very strange. We haven't managed to come up with any leads yet but we're pretty sure it's not the Order" Jasmine offered a reassuring look to Chloe.

Paul spoke up. He still felt a little odd being there without Amy at times but he was getting used having the Mai listen to what he had to say "I'm telling you, it's like some really bad juju is going on" Immediately the other three rounded their confused eyes on him "Juju, you know…magic-y type stuff"

"Is that possible?" Chloe looked to Jasmine.

"Are you being serious?" Alek looked between his cousin and the Uniter in frustration "You're not going to actually listen to this, right? Now of all times, we have to be taking things seriously!"

"But I'm being serious!" Paul suddenly cut in "You said there's other stuff besides Mai and Jackals out there. Why can't there be magic, you are essentially magical"

Jasmine raised her arms, a deep look of thought on her face "That's true but I can't think of anything that would be making this kind of stuff happen. Most things are normally a lot more subtle. Whatever this is, it's drawing attention to itself" Jasmine lowered her head. Her thoughts had abruptly wondered to the knowledge that had been taken away from them. Valentina would have known what to do "I wish mom was here" She mumbled but it didn't go unheard by everyone in the room. A wash of guilt passed through Alek's eyes and Chloe bit her lip in worry and pity for Jasmine. Paul, however, looked determined.

"That's why you should make her proud and find whatever this is" He placed a hand on the Mai's shoulder "I didn't know her. But I'm sure she'd be proud of you right now, you've already done a lot since you became the leader. She wouldn't have given you the job if she didn't think you had what it takes" It was another moment that he had with Jasmine where he looked at her and felt tempted to tell her that he liked her. But everything in him screamed against it and he simply gave her shoulder a squeeze.

Alek and Chloe had looked away, both noticing the private moment. In that second, they had exchanged looks when they weren't meant to. Alek noted that Chloe seemed extremely tired. Once again, Amy's words rang in his head. But Alek wasn't as unreadable as he thought and Chloe saw the heavy guilt that weighed him down. But before either had a chance to make a comment, their attention was caught by Jasmine.

"Right" She cast Paul a grateful look and then snapped her eyes to the other two "We'll keep looking and whatever it is, we'll find it. Don't rule out any possibilities"

x-x-x

"That's your house?" Maira looked at the cute but confined building lined up along the road.

"Not to your taste?" Amy scoffed "Best I can do unless you can afford a hotel"

"No, no" Maira's head shook from side to side. She had spent a long time moving around but their home had often been the same. Back in Greece when she was still young, they had lived in an open, one floor building on a cliffside. Most of the time, their homes had been away from large areas of civilisation and were often open and large, near the sea. Everyone had felt at home then but a little alone, so this new type of living place looked cosy in comparison "It'll be just fine"

Amy lead her inside to reveal almost what Maira had expected. A colourful home, that had Amy's personality written all over it. Amy wondered what it looked like to Maira. From their small talk, she'd gathered that she was rather different from Maira. The demigoddess seemed quite serious and, while not necessarily mature, disciplined. It was obvious that she kept to an objective when she had one while Amy saw herself as a much more carefree and scatter-brained person. Something about Maira actually reminded her of Alek. Luckily, they did seem to have the same sense of humour.

"Cute" Maira said while examining a straw hat mounted on a wall, with an assortment of beads and feathers stuck into it.

"Ah, yeah. I made that when I was seven. Dad 1 thinks that it's some great art or something. Dad 2 just agreed with him to keep him happy"

"You've got a great relationship with your fathers, huh?" Maira straightened up and noticed the unhappy face that Amy had pulled "What's wrong?"

Amy paused before she answered. She loved her fathers very much and Maira was right, she got along great with both of them. They were the ones that had made her the person that she was today. It was just that…"I don't understand why he never told me"

The older girl placed both of her hands on Amy's shoulders "Because he chose for you to be protected even if ignorant instead of always being in danger of being attacked" Admittedly now, that meant very little since the Martins' precious daughter was being hunted one way or another. Maira was always against parents keeping the secret but she also understood that as humans, they did all they could. In this case, they just wanted their daughter to have a normal life. Humans were indeed beautiful in their capacity to love.

Amy, however, still couldn't settle the anger in her heart. She too believed that she had a right to know "Can I ask him about it?"

"I don't see why not" Maira shrugged "Just as long as its not with your other father, Dad 2 as you call him, because he might not know. And I'd much rather avoid too much exposure. I already pulled some stupid moves to find you" But before she could get into further explanation, the front door opened right behind them and in walked two men. One was tall and lanky, with a mop of wild blond hair. His large eyes were magnified behind rather comical rimmed glasses. The other man was slightly shorter but with broad shoulders and jawline. He had cheerful brown eyes and short brown hair.

"And that's why I said not to stop off at the market" The taller of the two then paused when he spotted the girls "Amy, you're home already? I thought you were going to meet Chloe?"

"Oh, we decided to cancel it" Amy waved her hands.

"So who might this be?" The other man raised his eyebrow at Maira. Maira sent them both a polite smile and she was about to answer when Amy decided to do it for her.

"This is Maira Stratis. She's from Greece" The last word was said with great emphasis "She's come to see me and I'm wondering if she can stay with us for a while. She really helped me out today too, it's as if the gods sent her" This whole time she never took her eyes off the shorter man. Maira safely assumed that this was Riley Martin. His eyes widened with every passing second. Joseph, meanwhile, gave Maira a pleasantly surprised smile.

"Well, I suppose if she is a friend of yours" Joseph shook his jacket off his shoulders and also grabbed Riley's "I guess I'll get started on dinner. Do you eat meat, Maira?"

"Of course! I could help if you want" Maira chirped and as soon as Joseph nodded, she followed after him.

Amy crossed her arms and looked at her father "We need to talk"

x-x-x

Amy stood in her bedroom decorated in even more colours than the rest of the house. There were sheets of music spread all over the floor and her guitar lay on her bed. Normally, she would be occupied with writing music or talking on the phone to Paul. But now her arms were crossed and she was looking at her father for an answer. She had told him everything that had happened and waited for an explanation.

Riley was at a loss for words. He was still in shock that his daughter had been attacked and the fact that the mother of his daughter had sent another demigod to look for her. It was tempting to blame the whole incident on the girl now downstairs helping the love of his life cook dinner. But something told him that there was no way Amy would let him get away with it. He was the one that taught her that people should own up to their own mistakes and actions.

"I'm sorry Amy. No-one ever told me that your powers could ever resurface again. I thought that after they disappeared when you came back from that Cradle place, you would never know about them. So I kept the secret from you and Joseph in the hopes that you could live a normal life. I was going to tell you if they ever did, see, 'cause I thought they would be more obvious. Turns out not even you knew about them until someone came after you"

The tips of her fingernails sunk further into her skin in order to soothe her nerves "Dad, I get about wanting to protect me but you shouldn't have kept it a secret. If Maira hadn't been in time, I wouldn't have been able to defend myself. Even in the first place, my supposed mother is the goddess of _love_ so how much self defencee could I have inherited"

Riley chuckled at this point "Oh I don't know. I'm pretty sure your mother has a lot of ways of defending herself"

This shocked Amy "You knew her?"

"Well a little, it's not like she just appeared in my bedroom and we-"

"Too many details there dad"

"What I mean is that, I met her when she was visiting the human world and I thought she was gorgeous so I asked to paint her. I got to know her a little while she modelled for me but after she, you know; I didn't see her again until she arrived with you in her arms and explained everything" Riley glanced at a picture of himself with a baby Amy in his arms. Joseph had taken the picture not long after the two of them met.

Immediately Amy's face softened "What was she like?"

Riley bit his lip, some kind of pain on his face "Incredible in so many ways. I'll tell you soon but not now, I don't think either of us are ready to talk about her. I know you want to kiddo, but I don't want to cloud your judgement of her before you know her" He responded to Amy's frowning face.

"But Maira said that gods aren't allowed to live with their human children"

"Maybe, but you never know what's going to happen. You're about to start an amazing journey. It's probably going to be dangerous but amazing none the less"

"Do you really think so?" Amy finally unfolded her arms and sat on the bed next to her father.

He leaned to the side and wrapped an arm around her "I don't doubt it, Ducky" He kissed the top of her head.


End file.
